Yup. Which is why they should perhaps calculate these stats for metro areas and not individual cities. It would give a more accurate picture.

Yes and no. Municipal stats (and even more detailed ones) are very important when we're talking about crime rates. It is pointless to speak of MSA stats in Detroit, for example, because violent crime in Detroit is not remotely evenly distributed across the metro area.

In Canada, this urban-suburban gap is usually--not always, but usually--less marked, so it does indeed make sense to report by CMA as well. This is exactly the unit of analysis that Statcan uses. CMA, not municipality. But I still want to know the rates by municipality, because those are important.

JuelzJones

Mar 17, 2009 2:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by furrycanuck
(Post 4143830)

Juelz, please express these per capita. That 88 was FAR higher than more recent years even if the media (and assorted racists) wants us to believe otherwise.

ok I'm pretty sure these are really close to the actual statistics

1991 had 88 murders so back then it would have been 3.9/100k

2007 had 84 murders so that would be 3.3/100k

There isn't much of a difference

vid

Mar 17, 2009 2:56 AM

3.9 and 3.3 are pretty far apart when you're discussing this kind of thing. Thunder Bay is 2/100,000 so there goes my "Well in Toronto you're less likely to get murdered" explanation for the local knee jerk reactors. :(

touraccuracy

Mar 17, 2009 7:26 AM

21 so far in Vancouver I think.

At this rate, that would be 81 for the year, or a rate of: 3.2/100,000

My math is probably wrong... it's not my best subject. But nonetheless that seems actually pretty low considering how much everyone is freaking out about the murders so far this year. They're almost all gang related.

At this rate, that would be 81 for the year, or a rate of: 3.2/100,000

My math is probably wrong... it's not my best subject. But nonetheless that seems actually pretty low considering how much everyone is freaking out about the murders so far this year. They're almost all gang related.

You are comparing Metro Vancouver, correct? Keep in mind that those stats from Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, etc are for the CITY. Those metro areas are full of suburbs with very low murder rates like we see here, so it's a little misleading (many Canadian cities include most of the suburban areas (Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Edmonton, etc) because you're taking what is essentially the inner-city of a city like Detroit, and comparing it against the entire Vancouver area.

For example, suppose Unicity had never occured in Winnipeg. Winnipeg had 28 murders last year spread over 650,000 people. The vast majority of these murders happened in only a few areas so the old city of Winnipeg where the murders occured (with its 200,000 people) would have had a murder rate around 3X what it currently is. (15 instead of 5 (or whatever it was last year)).

Rusty van Reddick

Mar 18, 2009 3:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blake10
(Post 4145944)

You are comparing Metro Vancouver, correct? Keep in mind that those stats from Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, etc are for the CITY. Those metro areas are full of suburbs with very low murder rates like we see here, so it's a little misleading (many Canadian cities include most of the suburban areas (Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Edmonton, etc) because you're taking what is essentially the inner-city of a city like Detroit, and comparing it against the entire Vancouver area.

MSA stats for a city like Detroit (or Atlanta, DC, St Louis, etc) are worthless- they have the effect of outrageously exaggerating suburban murder rates and misrepresenting city murder rates to make them look far better than they actually are.

touraccuracy

Mar 18, 2009 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blake10
(Post 4145944)

You are comparing Metro Vancouver, correct? Keep in mind that those stats from Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, etc are for the CITY. Those metro areas are full of suburbs with very low murder rates like we see here, so it's a little misleading (many Canadian cities include most of the suburban areas (Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Edmonton, etc) because you're taking what is essentially the inner-city of a city like Detroit, and comparing it against the entire Vancouver area.

For example, suppose Unicity had never occured in Winnipeg. Winnipeg had 28 murders last year spread over 650,000 people. The vast majority of these murders happened in only a few areas so the old city of Winnipeg where the murders occured (with its 200,000 people) would have had a murder rate around 3X what it currently is. (15 instead of 5 (or whatever it was last year)).

Well only 9 out of the 21 murders have been in the city of Vancouver....

98fb

Mar 19, 2009 6:38 PM

22 now for metro van as man gunned down in surrey/langley

mersar

Mar 19, 2009 8:10 PM

Calgary has 7 now following what now has turned out to be a guy getting murdered by one of his roommates last weekend. Initially police thought it wasn't a suspicious death but the medical examiner determined it was.

craneSpotter

Mar 19, 2009 10:12 PM

Greater Victoria is at 1.

LFRENCH

Mar 20, 2009 5:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craneSpotter
(Post 4149572)

Greater Victoria is at 1.

which one is that?? I went to school with the girl who was pushed infront of the bus by the random drunk guy.

although it was last year i knew the guy who was killed down on store street aswell.

then i was at kingsway mall zellers and saw the mcleans article which states victoria as one of the safest places to be. Kinda shocking how since i moved to Edmonton, two people i know have been murdered. for the record i have been here just a little over 3 months.

Thunder Bay Police have one man in custody and a Canada-wide arrest warrant issued for another in what they say is the third homicide of the year.

Police are seeking Eric Thomas Lindstrom, 37, of Thunder Bay, in the death of another man.

“Police have been unable to locate Lindstrom, but believe him to be either in the city of Thunder Bay or surrounding area,” Det. John Fennell said Sunday.

The two accused and a man found dead on the weekend knew each other, Fennell said.

Lindstrom is not considered armed or dangerous, but he should not be approached, Fennell said. Instead, anyone who spots him is asked to call 911 or Crime Stoppers.

Lindstrom is white, five feet nine inches tall and 177 pounds. He has short brown hair and green eyes.

A flurry of activity for city police and OPP began at 12:27 p.m. Saturday when a 911 caller reported a male had been assaulted earlier in the week, said Fennell.

Detectives were able to identify a possible crime scene, but couldn‘t find a victim.

After interviewing numerous people, police came to believe the victim was dead, Fennell said.

By 8:10 p.m. Saturday, OPP were alerting Thunder Bay Police that officers had found a body in a remote area off Highway 527 near Gull Bay.

Investigators were able to establish that the body was the assault victim they‘d been looking for.

Detectives, members of the forensic identification unit and OPP officers continued investigation at the remote location Sunday.

The identity of the victim is being withheld pending notification of his family.

Information turned up by police led them to Christopher William Gregorchuk, 28, of Thunder Bay. He was arrested at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Gregorchuk made a video court appearance Sunday and was remanded in custody for another court appearance today.

After 2008 saw no homicides in the city, 2009 so far has seen three.

On Jan. 14, a 29-year-old Finlayson Street man was found in his apartment building bleeding from stab wounds. Another resident in the building remains in custody on a charge of second-degree murder.

Eight days later, on Jan. 22, police officers found a 37-year-old Bethune Street woman‘s body in her apartment after her worried family asked police to check on her. Her live-in partner, 31, was arrested early the next morning.

He is charged with second-degree murder in her death, which is listed in court documents as having happened between Jan. 3 and Jan. 22.

In another incident, a Waterloo man is charged with criminal negligence causing death and assisted suicide after his wife was found dead in their Thunder Bay hotel room Feb. 6. The couple had been passing through the city when their vehicle broke down.

It was announced on radio a little while ago that they caught him. This is number three for us, and there are still over eight months to go. :( That last in the article isn't a homicide but it was weird. A couple was driving to the west but got stuck here, so the man helped his wife kill herself. :shrug:

Dmajackson

Mar 24, 2009 12:13 AM

^The way that article worded it makes it sound like people would rather die than stay a night in Thunder Bay. :sly:

Knock on wood, we've had three homicides here in Halifax. Two of them were related to the drug war and well since the ring-leader is now out west for work and the other family's leader was killed it might start to settle down here. What is strange about this town is homicides come in groups of twos or threes. Normally theres two in January, none in the spring, one or two in the summer, and 1 or two in the late fall.

Based on my calculations Halifax has a homicide rate of 0.78 so far this year and a rate of 1.84 in 2008.

vid

Mar 25, 2009 9:47 PM

They obviously had other problems between them. It's still an unusual story.

There was a murder in Kenora. I think this brings Northwestern Ontario, with 235,000 people, to 6 homicides. (Three in Thunder Bay, one in Kenora, two on various First Nations.)

The charges follow the discovery of a man’s body on Saturday on the CP Rail tracks near that city. A post mortem has been performed on the body and the victim has been identified as 43-year-old Edward Wilson of Kenora.

Police are investigating the death of a 33-year-old woman in Pikangikum as a possible homicide.

Members of the Pikangikum Police Service, Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service and OPP are investigating the death of Judy Ann Quill.

Pikangikum and NAPS officers responded to a call on March 22 about a woman in a wooded area of the community. The woman was transported to the local nursing clinic where officials tried to revive her.

Attempts to revive the woman were unsuccessful.

A post mortem examination took place at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora. Police are withholding the cause of death, but foul play is suspected.

The investigation is ongoing under the direction of Detective Inspector John Horne of the OPP criminal investigation branch. The OPP Northwest region crime unit and forensic identification unit are also assisting in the investigation.

This would be the third homicide on a First Nation and seventh for NWO this year. Pikangikum is one of Canada's most impoverished communities, with an unemployment rate over 70%. It has the highest suicide rate of any community in the world.

98fb

Mar 29, 2009 10:08 PM

Number 23 for Metro Vancouver

Man dies in Langley stabbing. Drug related

Rusty van Reddick

Mar 29, 2009 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by touraccuracy
(Post 4147596)

Well only 9 out of the 21 murders have been in the city of Vancouver....

8 in the city of Calgary so far- if Van (city) is at 9 then it has a much higher rate than Calgary per capita. Vancouver proper is barely 600,000 people; Calgary proper is 1.1 million.

This is why we have to look at rates, not numbers, people.

DAVEinEDMONTON

Mar 29, 2009 11:20 PM

Murders in Greater Vancouver

I think most of you are missing the point about the murders in Vancouver. The discussion should not be over how many or what boundaries you use to calculate the stats, the real point here is the degree to which the drug related murders are stepping out of the typical patterns as to how they are being committed.

Last year two innocent bystanders were killed in the GVA for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One was a resident of the apartment complex and one was a plumber or gas fitter who was working in the apartment building at the time. Recently, one lady was shot with her young 4 year old son in the same car in the middle of the day. In Abbotsford, my co-worker had to duck in her car at an intersection in the middle of the afternoon while bullets were flying from the car beside her. Shots are flying at people due to road rage in Surrey. There are lots and lots of other examples. The drug war has hit the streets here in Vancouver. It is no longer in the dark rooms or the back alleys in the 'bad" part of the city. This is the real concern for me that you can be driving by and some drug war load will be in the next car and someone may open fire...